Cao Cao
CAGiversary!
Level-5 recently finished their press conference, and in it, they finally revealed the Japanese release date for their long-awaited collaboration with Studio Ghibli, Ninokuni: The Another World, December 9th, 2010. The DS version has now been christened with a new subtitle too, Ninokuni: The Ebony Wizard. (Translation by Aeana) Also mentioned at the event were Inazuma Eleven 3 and the PS3 version, Ninokuni: Queen of White Ashes. Unfortunately, no US release has been announced for any of these titles.
Ninokuni for the DS is an RPG that is similar to Dragon Quest in gameplay style, with turn-based battles, and a monster-raising element. The PS3 version retains the monster-raising element, but its battles are action-based, similar to the "Tales" series. The protagonist is a 13-year-old boy named Oliver, a resident of the American city of Hotroit.
Oliver and his friends have a passion for automobiles, building them in their spare time. One night, Oliver and one of his friends decide to sneak out to test drive their new racecar. Unfortunately, things quickly take a turn for the worse when Oliver loses control of the vehicle and plunges into a nearby river. Oliver's mother Allie, who was out looking for him, arrives at the scene in the nick of time. Allie is able to save him, but the stress of the situation causes her to have a heart attack, and she dies.
Oliver becomes understandably depressed after this occurs, until one day, when a doll that his mother gave to him suddenly comes to life.
Oliver becomes understandably depressed after this occurs, until one day, when a doll that his mother gave to him suddenly comes to life.
where he could potentially bring his mother back to life by freeing her counterpart's soul from the evil wizard Jabow
There are quite a few interesting points about this game. Most notably is the collaboration with Studio Ghibli, who will be handling the anime FMVs in the game. As previously mentioned, this game involves parallel universes, so of course, some of the quests will require traveling between the two worlds, helping people/animals in one world to affect their counterparts in the other. This game is also one of the first DS games to use a 4 Gigabit (512 Megabyte) cartridge size, which the staff claim is necessary to fit in the FMVs, voiced lines, and orchestra music.
Another notable point is that the game will have a pack-in, the Magic Master book. As you can see, the Magic Master is a thick hardcover tome, filled with things like the patterns to draw for spells, enemy weaknesses, a world map, and other useful bits of information, some of it hidden.
People using the Magic Master book
A page from the Magic Master book
DS version Screenshots and artwork
Impressions @ Andriasang
1UP News Story on the Press Conference
1UP article detailing story info, quests
For the DS version, it was playable at the event, and they demoed it on stage, but the new trailer was released on the official web site. It has been uploaded to Youtube, though the official site has better quality.
June 2010 Trailer
Here's the stuff from TGS 2009: A trailer, and footage of the demo that was given away:
TGS 2009 trailer
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